Ex-FBI officials due back in court in Hunter Biden laptop case

Two former FBI officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, are scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington on Tuesday, days after the Justice Department charged them with making false statements to Congress. Their lawyers call the case baseless and politically motivated. It arrives a week before the midterm elections, following several other politically charged Justice Department moves in recent weeks, according to ABC News.

The complaint alleges that in 2023 the pair told lawmakers they had no contemporaneous awareness of Hunter Biden's laptop and took no part in internal bureau discussions about it. Both led the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was created during President Donald Trump's first term to counter foreign influence operations. In August 2020 they briefed Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who were examining Hunter Biden's Ukraine dealings. Republicans have long accused the unit of undermining their Biden inquiries. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolved it in February 2025.

Defense attorneys are expected to contest the charges, pointing out that prosecutors used a complaint approved by a magistrate judge instead of a grand jury indictment. The department is thought to have had trouble winning grand jury indictments in the capital in prominent matters.

Summarized by PolitiKool from ABC News’s reporting. Read the full story at ABC News →